If I could write an open letter to some of the friends I’ve had who didn’t buy my reasons for faith in Christ, I think I would imagine them as a person I’ll call Aaron and write something like this. “Dear Aaron, I hope you are doing well. I miss our conversations. Even more, I […]
What do I need to hear again today? My guess is that it’s something like– Get knowledge–but don’t depend on your knowledge. Seek to be wise-But don’t depend on wisdom. Work hard–but don’t depend on hard work. Work smart-But don’t ever depend on your own cleverness and efficiency. Make plans. But don’t depend on plans. […]
As the last two US Democratic primaries are held today in South Dakota and Montana, I’ve been thinking again about the different ways followers of Christ enter a voting booth. During the course of this lengthy election process, with far more to come, it’s been clear that some of us believe we have an obligation […]
Los Angeles Lakers’ star, Kobe Bryant, is claiming today that his hyperdunk jump over a pool of snakes is for real. His stunt, that recently hit the internet, echoes a television series that aired for six years from 2001 to 2006. “Fear Factor” was the first reality show to be syndicated by a television network. […]
A city guy lost his way on rural roads. Dangerously low on fuel, he came across a man on a tractor who looked like a landowner. “Excuse me, sir,” the traveler said, “but I’m lost and running low on gas. Can you tell me how to get to the nearest gas station”? The man on […]
No one could rightly accuse Jesus of having low standards. But he was accused in his day of being “a friend of sinners.” Religious leaders of the lakeshore community of Capernaum, for instance, would have criticized Jesus if he had befriended the kind of people who once lived on the shores of the Dead Sea, […]
None of us can afford to call good bad, or bad good. The prophet Isaiah says, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and […]
In 1955, Tennessee Ernie Ford had a big hit in a mineworkers’ song called “16 Tons”. Many of us will never forget his rich voice singing, “Sixteen tons and what do ya get? Another day older and deeper in debt. Saint Peter don’t you call me, cause I can’t go. I owe my soul to […]
Like pride, the closets of humility are filled with different hats and clothes for different occasions. Popular opinion regards it as a doormat personality, and maybe even pride in disguise. Yet our books of common language describe it as the kind of realistic view of ourselves that is necessary to share the pain or joys […]
It can swagger with self-importance one minute before writhing in self-contempt the next. Its closets are stuffed with masks of deception. We think we know what it is. Our books of common language describe it as an exaggerated sense of self importance. We’ve watched it pile pain upon pain. But the more I think about […]
